Improvement in army-stretchers



f L UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAcoB J.,V SMITH, or PHTLADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ARMY-STRETCHERS.l

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 39,840, dated September 8, 1863.

a full, clear, and eX-act description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the under side, and Figs. 2 and 3 end elevations, of an army, stretcher having my said improvement applied thereto, like letters indicating the sanne parts when in the different gures.

My invention has for its objects the production of a light, strong, and readily-adj ustable army stretcher or cot, which will admit of being either stretched or opened laterally for use, or closed compact] y for packing and transporta-tion in army-wagons Without causing a variation in its length, and also of being adjusted at any time, to give a bagging or curved condition to the canvas thereof, as occasion may require.

It consists, substantially as hereinafter described and speciiied, in the employment of what may be called knee-jointed plates applied so as to operate in combination with the side rails and canvas of the stretcher or cot, for the purpose of producing and securing either a stretched condition of the canvas or allowing the side rails to be brought closely together without causing a variation in the length of the stretcher, and also in the employment, in combination with the said knee jointed plates, of ratchet-teeth and pawls, arranged so as to retain the said plates in such bent or angular position as the required bagging or curved condition of the canvas may in any case' require.

In the drawings, A A are the side rails 5 B, the canvas 5 C C, the knee-jointed plates; D D, the pawls, and E E, the ratchet-teeth.

` The side rails are each provided withhandles and the canvas nailed along between them, and also with folding legs a a', in the usual well-known manner, as represented in the drawings. The kneejointed plates G C each consists of two iron plates or flat bars pivoted together at c and to the rails at c'l c2, and one of the bars or plates extended beyond the center pivot, c, and also slotted or notched so as to receive therein a stud, c3, which is fixed in its fellow plate so as to stop the motion of the plates just after they have passed a straight line running longitudinally through each, as seen in Fig. 1, while they :are at the same time left free to be folded toward each.

other in the opposite direction, inclosing the stretcher, as indicated by the dotted lines in the same figure. The pawl D and ratchetteeth E ot' each knee-joint are arranged to operate together as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, when required to hold the canvas B in the bagging or curved position indicated in Fig. 3, the pawl D being pivoted to one of the plates or bars so as to be brought into engagement with any one of the ratchet-teeth E of its fellow bar, and thus produce and retain any degree of bagging in the canvas that may be required.

In cots a tight or stretched condition ofthe canvas B is generally required. Therefore, in such cases it is intended that the canvas shall be applied so that it Will not allow the kneejoints to become straightened, and consequently the ratchet-teeth and pawls in such case will serve as the means of either tightening the canvas as required, or preserving it in the bagging or curved condition.

The advantages ofthe employment of the knee-jointed plates or bars C G will be readily seen in the fact that as they allow the lateral contraction ofthe stretcher without producing any increase in its length, the latter is therefore better adapted forpackin g and transportation in army-wagons, and it will be no less apparent that when rigid tightness is required in the canvas, as is especially the case in cots, or, when a bagging or curved condition of the canvas of a stretcher is requiredas in carrying the helplessly wounded safely thereon-the employment of the pawls and ratchetteeth in the manner described, is indispensable.

Having thus fully described my improvement in army stretchers and cots, and pointed out its utility, what I claim as new therein of my invention, and desire to secure by VLetters Patent, is

1. The employment ofthe knee-jointed bars or plates C U, so that they shall operate in combination with the side rails, A A, and

tiztlly in the manner described and set'forth,

canvas B of a. stretcher, substantially in the for the purposes specied.

manner described and set forth, for the purpose specified.

2. In combination With the said knee-jointed bars or plates G C, the employment of the pawls D D and ratchetteeth E E, substan- JACOB J. SMITH.

Witnesses:

BENJ. MoRIsoN, B. F. SHATTUGK. 

